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Top 100 Tech House Artists of 2015

Dec 17, 04:30 PM

2015 saw the continued rise of Tech House disciples in all four corners of the globe. With it’s bass heavy, hypnotic soundtrack, it’s easy to see why the sound puts a spell on so many followers year after year with it’s perfect blend of house music and techno; it’s the pied piper of the underground scene!

The overall quality of the genre itself has steadily increased around the world over the last 12 months, with more and more producers turning to Tech House as a creative outlet to really amalgamate many different musical styles. Tech house’s melodic yet raw form has created some of the underground scenes most impressive productions in 2015.

The releases this year has been outstanding, with many producers and labels pushing out some of their best work to date. Here’s the people that we thought really excelled over the past 12 months, in our Top 100 Tech House Artists of 2015.

Twisted Fusion label boss Apollo 84 had a storming 2015 with a slew of releases on his own label alongside cuts on Criminal Hype, Lapsus and Nervous. Big tunes included the funked out thud of ‘Just Like That’ on Materialism and the superb ‘Subzero’ on Mr. Carter.

Spanish DJ and producer Alvaro Smart had a prolific year in 2015 with big tunes on Defined, Love Inc, Safe Music and Material. The sleazy funk of ‘Off Da Hook’ on Lapsus really got our juices flowing earlier in the year, but be sure to check out his new remix of Husky’s ‘My Everything’. Straight fire for the floor.

Stanny Abram’s ever-growing catalogue of quality tech house received another addition with his recent ‘Keep The Flow’ which was released on his own imprint Marba Records. With further releases this year on Great Stuff, NOPRESET and Undercool, ‘Do Me Right’ on Alakazam with RAMA7 hit all the right spots alongside the piano infused sounds of ‘Sautsauta’.

Poland’s Juliet Sikora has had a fantastic 2015, scoring one of our biggest tracks of the year ‘Larry’s Garage’ on Kittball. From city to city, club to club and long sessions in the recording studio – this girl never stops! Already managing a long list of remix offers and high profile collaborations on the way, we can barely wait to see what she has in store for 2016.

A prolific year for Denmark’s favorite tech house export Noir, with a steady stream of releases on Knee Deep in Sound, Skint, Toolroom, Defected and Saved Records. Stand-outs included ‘Music 4 Me’ on DFTD, plus his re-rub of Blaze vs. &ME’s ‘Think To My Beat’.

Berlin born Philip Bader ensured 2015 was a year to remember with a steady stream of high-quality tech releases on Material, Leena Music and Moda Black and his brand Out of Mind label. His heavy remix of Jaymo & Andy George’s ‘Hip Shots’ ruffled many a feather this year, whilst his 1989 infused remix of Hector Moralez’s ‘Acid Wash’ hit all the right places in 2015.

The Italian duo of Domy Berardino and Mirco Sonatore just kept on pumping out the tech throughout 2015. With a consistent flow of music coming out through Suara, SSOH, and their very own Safe Music imprint. The highly original ‘How Do U Wanna Funky’ released on Great Stuff really freaked the world’s dance floors. Have a listen; it’s like the aliens finally landed, then sat straight down and made a track!

Another great year for Raffa FL, with consistently strong releases every month in 2015. With tracks on Materialism, Mr. Carter, Toolroom, Nurvous and Straight Ahead this year, our stand out moments from Raffa was the acid-tinged throbber ‘Freedom’ with Mihalis Safras on Glasgow Underground and the Boogie Nights sampling ‘All About That Bass’ on Definition:Music.

Bulgaria’s very own Metodi Hristov really stepped up his game in 2015 with strong releases on Glasgow Underground, Lapsus Music, Toolroom and Terminal M. We loved his remix of Josh Butler’s ‘The Essence of House’ on Noir Music, whilst ‘Whiskey Throttle’ on Material was one of the most well thought out, intricate pieces of tech house in 2015.

NYC’s very own Joeski had a great 2015 with big releases on Desolat, Kittball, Crosstown Rebels and his own imprint, Maya Records. ‘Ghetto Bounce’ with Harry Romero on Sneak’s ‘I’m a House Gangster’ label absolutely killed it, whilst ‘Crazy Circus’ on Cajual brought a funky kinda weirdness to the dancefloor that we really understood.

Poker Flat label boss Steve Bug had an outstanding year, as his own imprint continued to push top quality deep tech to help cement Bug’s place as one of the biggest names on the scene. With further releases on Freerange, Defected and Strictly Rhythm, we loved his re-rub of Chez Damier’s classic ‘Can You Feel It’ and his very own ‘Coconut Paradise’.

With a whole host of hot releases on Saved Records, Relief, Audiophile Deep, Visionquest and Lapsus Music, it’s pretty safe to say Gene Farris enjoyed a great 2015. Everyone went crazy for ‘The Way To Go’ on Guesthouse, whilst his hypnotic remix of DJ Pierre’s ‘The Beat’ caused serious dancefloor damage at the main room in Space Ibiza and way beyond.

2015 has been one long release schedule for Hector Couto, with labels like 2020Vision, Moon Harbour, Strictly Rhythm and Toolroom all gobbling up his tracks. His rumbling, old school infused ‘Detroit’ on Defected picked up heavy play across the globe, whilst his remix of SanXero’s ‘Let’s Freak’ really tore up the dancefloors (and our office!).

The Choo Choo train kept on chuggin’ in 2015 as Harry Romero fired out heavyweight releases on Beta Rebels, Ovum, Tronic and his own Bambossa imprint. With his own unique trademark sound, stand-outs for us were the hard to ignore ‘Ghetto Bounce’ with Joeski and the sublime trumpet anthem ‘From The Soul’ on Nervous.

Doorly kicked some serious ass over the last 12 months, appearing in two of our best artists of the year charts and also our top 10 best selling tracks of 2015. Not a bad years work I’m sure you’ll agree! We’re really looking forward to seeing what he conjures up next year, as he set the standard pretty high in 2015!

The producer’s producer, Josh Butler’s output for 2015 really did hit the spot with releases on Material, Avotre, Lost Records, Defected and Noir Music to name but a few. ‘Be True’ on Cajual in early 2015 really set the standard of what was to come, whilst his recent remix of Vidaloca’s ‘Lullaby’ has the main room of DC10 written all over it.

One of the busiest DJs on the circuit, it’s surprising Sidney Charles finds the time to drop any tracks! In between flights he still managed to release fire on Avotre, Moda Black and Truesoul, with his ‘Power of The Undeground’ on DFTD and ‘Forever’ on Hot Creations all finding their perfect place on the world’s dance floors.

London based Italian super producer Riva Starr killed it in 2015 with his own imprint ‘Snatch! Records’ offering quality releases throughout the year. The old school vibes of ‘The Loft’ on Cajual really stirred memories of Chicago but with a modern twist, whilst his remix of Roland Clark’s ‘Take Some House’ on Saved Records was the right kind of chugging, underground tech.

Lapsus Records owners Supernova pushed out some serious heat through their own label in 2015. Still willing to share the love though, they also found time to also fire out releases on Stereo, Material and Moon Harbour. We loved their remix of Audio Junkie’s ‘Right Love’ on their own imprint, but be sure to check out their remix of Joey Negro’s classic ‘Do What You Feel’. One of the best re-rubs of 2015.

Number one for us in 2015 was the irrepressible Mihalis Safras. His ‘Material’ label has been one of the standout imprints of this year, with releases from the likes Philip Bader, Supernova, Josh Butler, ZDS, Volkoder, Russ Yallop, Alvaro Smart, Cristoph, Dale Howard, plus of course the main man himself.

One of the scene’s most in-demand DJs, Safras has spent much of 2015 dragging his record boxes around the worlds airports, so it’s anyone’s guess how he keeps up with his incessant release schedule! Labels such as Viva Music, Glasgow Underground, Saved, Lapsus, Toolroom, Knee Deep in Sound and Definition:Music, have all released heavy Mihalis tracks in 2015. Does this guy ever sleep?

With such a strong body of work in 2015, it’s hard to pick stand out moments, but we really loved the ‘Mantela EP’ on Lapsus, which featured 4 amazingly different interpretations of the title track. His recent ‘Power’ release on Saved is already a real floor filler this year, the kind of tough and wicked stuff that Mihalis has been pushing out all year.

It’s great to see such a hardworking DJ, artist and label owner really push the boundaries in terms of creative content and vision. We’re really looking forward to seeing what Mihalis and Material have in store for us next year, as they have blown us away in 2015.